Summer Of Magic Bento Buffet

The summer is magic

Like a certain old nineties song proclaimed, The summer is magic, especially in Japan. It is a time of sunflower fields and fireflies, cracking open a watermelon or kakigori to eat on lazy hot summer days… the fun is endless. The brave and daring can even to some mountain climbing, as summer is the season when climbing Mount Fuji is most popular, or you can, at night sit on the porch in your yukata, cool yourself with an uchiwa and gaze at the stars.

The start of summer means news anime!. Be sure to look at our Ten Summer 2017 anime recommendations article to find out more about some of the anime that start next week. One of the greatest summer events this year is Dragon Ball Super’s 100th episode!

Dragon Ball Super

Dragon Ball Super reaches 100 episodes

Many anime fanatiks became anime fanatik because they grew up watching Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and or Dragon Ball GT. There are as many undying Dragon Ball enthusiast as there are those that dislike the series but in all due respect the anime series is a titan in the world of anime and a series to be respected.

With DBS (Dragon Ball Super) a new generation is growing up with the anime. Many praised the new series and many also had their misgivings. According to some complainers, some of the issues are firstly the Power-up situation – Some have problems with the fact that it is too easy to become Super Sayan. Secondly, some complained that the new series started with very bad versions of the most recent Dragon Ball Z movies and feel that the two arcs could have been changed up a bit instead of being copies of the movies. Luckily that was redeemed with the super sugoi story arcs that followed and the fact that the animation also stepped up.

Many DBS fanatiks love the new characters that were introduced into the Dragon Ball franchise. Many also loved the fact that Future Trunks, Frieza and the Pilaf gang returned to the anime. Some also praise the nice balance between the action and the comedy. Another element many DBS fanatiks praised was that character development evolved beyond the DBZ series such as Vegeta, usually freakishly over-serious became more comical in character and Goku became more serious in his training.

Dragon Ball Super is going from strength to strength. Soon, on July 23rd in fact, the show will air its 100th episode, which is titled ‘The Berserker Awakens’. Hope we see you there with us because as things are going now in the series it is going to be big.

The month that was

Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan Season 3

After the last episode of season 2 was still smouldering in our memory Wit Studio announced that the hit anime series will return for a third series next year. We all hope that it will happen next year, but we also remember that it took two years for season 2 to be aired due to the franchise pulling a few ‘hiatuses’ which made hardcore Attack on Titan fanatiks go crazy each time a delay was announced.

We saw Eren become the one thing he hates most in the world, a Titan and after defeating the female titan in season 1 he found himself fighting even harder enemies in season 2! As usual season 2 kept us on the edges of our seats with the intensity of its story-lines and action scenes. (Beware: the next part may contain spoilers) In the third season, we hope for that legacy to continue. We hope to see more of the wacky Reiss clan that is the ruling family, we hope to learn more about the Ackerman bloodline (something that the manga dealt with) and we would love to know more of that basement, you know, the one Eren’s father had a key to that he entrusted to Eren (Which the manga also revealed).

Tetsuro Araki himself also had his say about season 3:

“Will the person wearing glasses at the end of season 2 play a part in season 3? Will everyone be able to survive? Will somebody die? It’s hard to know. Look forward to the next season. We’re still having fun making Attack on Titan.”

We hope that we will get answers to our Attack on Titan mysteries next year and that there will be no delays this time around.

Genocidal Organ

Genocidal Organ

It opened in Japan in February and now the Genocidal Organ movie is coming to select United States theaters on the 12 and 13th of July. This movie is part of a trilogy (of sorts) movies that are adaptations of the work of the late Sci-Fi novelist Satoshi Itō that wrote under the pen name Project Itoh. The other movies in the trilogy are Empire of Corpses and Harmony. A new English-subtitled video was released to preview the sci-fi anime movie.

Genocidal Organ plays off in the near future where our world now is mostly ruled by either tyrannical surveillance states or ethnic violence and genocide. An intelligence agent named Clavis Shepard (voiced by Yuichi Nakamura) is tracking a dangerous terrorist leader named John Paul (voiced by Takahiro Sakurai), who is set to throw the world into even more chaos.

If you hear the name Gintoki Sakata and smile or chuckle it may be because you are hooked on the Gintama anime. The anime plays off in Japan’s Edo era but set in an alternative reality with a twist where aliens from outer space called Amano have invaded the world, the Shogun outlawed the carrying of real swords to try to keep the peace since the Amano is stronger than humanity and the samurai caste is more or less abolished. Sakata the samurai is not taking this laying down and starts to run the Yorozuya, a “we-do-anything-shop”. If you have a problem, just come by the shop and get it solved, is their motto.

Gintama started out as a manga and it inspired an anime series that premiered in 2006 and continues until 2013 (with a lot of Hiatuses in between). The manga also inspired two movies and now a live action movie that is set to open in Japan on July 14th. The movie is directed by Yūichi Fukuda (Mr Nietzsche in the Convenience Store) who also penned the movie’s script. The live action’s theme song ‘Decided’ is performed by UVERworld (Blue Exorcist)

More Gintama news is that the live action movie is also inspiring a live-action three-episode miniseries that will be aired on Docomo’s dTV streaming service. It will start streaming a day after the movie’s opening. It is based on the Gintama manga’s ‘Mitsuba Arc. The live-action movie’s director Yuichi Fukuda is also the miniseries’ director and the main cast from the movie will star in the series.

Interesting tidbits from the realms of Anime

Digimon Adventure Tri

Digimon Adventure Tri. – Symbiosis

This September hails the return of the DigiDestined in the fifth installment of the six-part Digimon Adventures Tri movie series. The movie series is in part a celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Digimon Adventure series, which ran for 54 episodes from 1999 to 2000. The fifth movie is known as Digimon Adventure Tri. part 5, Kyousei (Symbiosis).

Spread the Word

We all know the old nursery song ‘Twinkle Twinkle little Star’. It is a classic and even loved in Japan. In this month’s bento, we are going to teach you the words to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in Japanese and that way we get to know a few more words in Japanese and we can sing the song to little brother, sister or children for fun.

Try to sing it. If it is too difficult it is not a problem. Here is a video of the song to help.

Now let us break the song down and learn a few words!

Kira Kira – twinkle twinkleHikaru – shining, to shine
Osora – Sky (The word is actually sora. Japanese children often add “no” at the beginning of some words to make is sound a bit softer.)Hoshi – StarMabataki – blinking, to blinkMinna – everyoneMiteru – looking, watching, to look, to watch

Now that you have discovered a few words, you can expand on them. Enjoy hunting down new sentences and new meanings. Ganbatte Minna!!!

Kakigori

Traditional Recipe of the month

Since it is summer in Japan and some days can get up to 38 degrees, some Kakigori may be just the dish to fight off the summer heat. It is a traditional shaved ice desert often flavoured with syrup and condensed milk that have popped up even in a few anime.

It can be flavoured with virtually every flavour you can think off like strawberry, cherry, lemon, green tea, grape, blueberry, melon, sweet plum, ground green tea and sweet red bean. Some of these flavours may be combined or two flavours can be used to create a colourful yummy experience. Kakigori in a way may be similar to a snow cone but its ice consistency is smoother and fluffier, like fallen snow. Some use a hand cranked machine to make this icy dish, some use electric shavers. The dish is eaten with a spoon. It can be found at festivals, convenience stores, coffee shops, and restaurants. It is one of the most popular summer treats in Japan. With the right equipment, it can be made at home. We have a Watermelon Kakigori video to show you how it is made.

Nami

Birthday of the Month

This month’s birthday girl is none-other than Nami, the ‘weather warrior’ of the Straw Hat Pirates of One Piece. She was the third member of the Straw Hat Pirates and the second to join, which happened during the Orange Town Arc. She later left and betrayed the Straw Hat Pirates, but was rescued when her true intentions came to light. She has quite a bounty on her head she is worth 66,000,000 Beli.

Her birthday is on the 3rd of July and she is smart, in fact, Nami is known as the third smartest character in the East Blue Region, which is a big help with her job as a navigator. She is also a very greedy girl; she will do anything for money except selling out her crew mates. The origin of her greed comes from growing up poor as an orphan living with a poor foster-mother.

She has a unique fighting style that focuses mainly on the manipulation of the weather of her surroundings, also known as the “Art of Weather”. If she combines this with her extensive knowledge of the oceanography and weather systems, it can make her a force to be reckoned with. She used a weapon called a Clima-Tact, initially, it was just something created by crew member Usopp for party tricks but Nami found ways to better and better the weapon and it now is able of devastating powers such as destroying a submarine with her weather-based powers.

AMV of the Month

Since Dragon Ball Super is releasing their 100th episode it is only fair to have an AMV of the anime as a celebration and that way we can listen to super sugoi music as we take a peek at scenes from the hit anime.

The Band of our AMV is the Paris-bound Alternative Rock band called ONLAP. The are signed to the record label Autoproduction. Music that influenced the band is Seether, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Nickelback, Papa Roach, Evanescence, Daughtry and Skillet. The AMV song is their energetic and vibey song Don’t Give Up. Enjoy the Video.

Ore Monogatari

July Anime Challenge

Be on the lookout for our weekly posts on our FB page for the anime challenge. This month’s challenge will be Ore Monogatari where we will meet Takeo Gouda, a giant man with a giant heart. Girls are not into him because they want his handsome best friend Sunakawa, One day Takeo saves a girl from a harasser on the train and his love life takes an interesting turn!!!! Make this month’s anime challenge a summer of love and romance with us. Last month’s challenge was Shingeki! Kyojin Chuugakkou (also known as Attack on Titan: Junior High). We hope you enjoyed the challenge.

Anime Day!

Please note that our next anime day will be the 22nd of July. The Summer Seasonal Openers will shown on screen. Watch our FB page or MeetUp page for more information